PERI'S POV

I had the same dream last night; flying, falling, sinking.

The only difference was my conversation with Gaea - all she did was cackle, her raucous laughter bouncing around in my head. But this time, I managed to stop the dream myself. Or at least, I think I did.

In the dream as I was suffocating underground, I felt something stir inside of me. It was a warm feeling, like honey being poured in my body. It gave me strength. I clawed my way back up to the surface, and the dream ended.

But when I awoke, panting and sweating, I did not feel free.

And the worst was yet to come, that much I knew.

And so I watched quietly as Leo docked the ship at a pier in Charleston Harbor, right next to the seawall. I'd dressed practically blindly today, and my plain black shirt blew slightly in the breeze, a sharp contrast to the colorful purple shorts I wore. I thought the wristbands would be fun and remind me of a younger time when I didn't have to worry about monsters and stupid gods. I was wrong. Whatever.

Along the shore was a historical district with tall mansions, palm trees, and wrought iron fences. Antique cannons pointed at the water, making me feel uncomfortable. I felt like at any moment, the cannons would turn and fire on us.

I rocked on my heels anxiously, nibbling halfheartedly on the apple in my hands. I was more than ready to get off this ship. Sure, the Argo II was an amazing beaut that defied the laws of physics - but it also defied the laws of Peri; anything that doesn't allow a teenage victim of a crime called ADHD to let it all out at regular intervals is hereby deemed an abomination. Therefore, no matter what amazing special features she was programmed with, the Argo II was an abomination.

But, as usual, I digress.

Everyone was gathered on the deck as Leo finished off the last bit of ship-like junk he needed to do get us all ready to go - if it were me doing things, I'd have been done ten minutes ago. But again, unimportant.

Piper looked ready to go, an intense determination upon her face like nothing I'd ever seen before. She had her hair done with a red feather today, and I tucked a lock of my own blonde hair behind my ear self consciously. She looked so pretty all the time.

I wish I could look like Piper.

I shook my head, a bitter taste in my mouth. Stop. There's no point thinking things like that, now is there?

Instead, my eyes found golden ones. Hazel. She kept looking between Leo, Frank, and I with a strange expression. Confusion? Longing? Yeah, it was definitely longing. She had this wistful look in her eyes when she looked at Leo. Oh my gods. Gross. GROSS. Can they just make it official already? Can they just fucking get married or something and have beautiful fucking kids named Sammy and Genevieve of the Bayou like are you fucking kidding me?!

Would that make me feel better, though?

"Are you girls ready?"

I blinked. Bonnabelle was talking to us. I wondered what she had been saying to Percy before. Probably just scheduling their next make-out session, fucking gods eww can you not?

Bonnabelle's steel colored eyes fell on me, and her brows knit together at my expression.

But we've got more important things to think about. There's nothing wrong with me - or at least, nothing that deserves any special treatment or care or whatever. I'll be fine. I can handle it.

I smiled at her in an attempt at reassurance. It felt weird on my face.

"Let's go find that ghost."